Petrol price rises are under scrutiny again as The AA reports a 0.75p rise after months of falls and the Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) complains of a 5p rise in wholesale costs.

Both retailers and the drivers’ champion are demanding tough action from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), claiming the market is not working to benefit consumers.

The PRA said the rise came despite “refinery chiefs complaining at their glut of petrol capacity”.

Office of Fair Trading
At the end of the month, the OFT reports back on its call for information on UK fuel pricing. The AA said this was not soon enough for a Berkshire town that called for a boycott of its forecourts after it became the latest to suffer a £2.50-a-tank postcode lottery surcharge for supermarket petrol.

The AA’s statistics showed that in 2012 petrol sales were down 3.9%, diesel sales were up 1.6%, but fuel duty receipts down only 0.8%.

The motoring organisation said mid-January petrol prices across the UK were marginally up on a month ago, averaging 132.71p a litre compared with mid-December’s 132.32p. Through the Christmas period and first week of January the petrol price grounded at 132.0p a litre before a 2p-a-litre rise in wholesale costs began to lift it again.

Retailers warn of price rises

PRA chairman Brian Madderson said: “The shock rise in wholesale costs is just one of the reasons why the PRA has been knocking on the door of the OFT since this time last year to demand a full investigation into the workings of the UK market for road fuel.”

He warned that retailers would be forced to up prices on the forecourt after absorbing the wholesale increases so far. He said: “Independent retailers have been soaking up this increase at the expense of already tight margins because they know how hard the motorist is squeezed. But the floodgates will have to open soon.”

The PRA said Experian Catalist figures show that daily average selling prices in the UK have risen by less than 1.00ppl for both petrol and diesel since 1 January. Current prices at 22 January were 132.83ppl for petrol and 140.40ppl for diesel whereas the wholesale cost changes could see prices at the pump going up another 4.00ppl in coming days.

Call for OFT action
Madderson said: “We need the new chief executive at the OFT, Clive Maxwell, to step out from the shadows and help consumers by conducting a full market study that will lift the veil of secrecy from the wholesale cost movements.

“If fuel costs continue to rise as our sluggish economy and loss of AAA credit rating weaken the pound sterling against the US dollar, the chancellor must abandon plans to increase duty from 1 September 2013, when he presents his spring Budget – householders and businesses will be hard pressed to cope with market fluctuations, let alone more government tax intervention.”